There seems to be a significant amount of confusion online over the terms of the T-Mobile G1 $24.99/mo data plan; more specifically, what constitutes a “message” as described in their FAQ (seen above).
At first hint, anyone that heard they have a “400 message” limit would assume that means a “text message” – as it has always meant, especially since most all of T-Mobile’s entry level plans offer 400 text messages. Unfortunately for us, the phrasing in the FAQ explicitly says:
Or for $24.99 a month you get unlimited data access and 400 messages (text, IM and email).
(My own bolding for emphasis)
So now it sounds like my “unlimited data” plan, is in fact very limited based on the type of data I am sending and receiving with it.
Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case. Todd Swarthout shared with us that he sends quite a bit of GTalk and Gmail email to/from his phone, but they are all across the Google services network and so far his message usage over the last few weeks of ownership according to the T-Mobile Account Overview page is still sitting 400 unused messages – so may these are text message metrics?
Then there is speculation online that the IM and email counting may come into play when using non-Google-network services; like MSN and/or Yahoo mail.
This thread, from the official T-Mobile forums, has users explaining the following:
- Email, regardless of the service (Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.) does not count against your message total.
- AIM, MSN and other non-GTalk IM services do count against your total because in the background they are actually transfering the IMs using the Text Message protocol.
So it looks like to us, right now, that the plan is legit, the confusion stems from two sources:
- The wording of the FAQ is unclear and written to imply that email isn’t data
- non-GTalk IM services are implemented using Text Messaging, we didn’t know this (and it still seems odd that it’s not just a normal data packet)
We will keep you posted as this unfolds, a huge thanks to Todd Swarthout for seeding all the data for this.
i am a potential new customer to tmobile and i find this confusion baffling. i spoke with a CS rep at tmobile who said that email is not counted in the 400 minutes (which you have confirmed in this blog).
whoever wrote the plan description for this on the tmobile website should be shot. doesnt have to be this confusing.
Marc,
Totally agree… just brought this conversation to a friend with the G1, he had no idea this was even under contention (and I believe IM’s on alternative networks eating up his msg count).
We are hoping by drawing attention to this T-Mobile will clarify this FAQ for everyone involved.
Out of curiosity did this confusion almost push you to the $34.99/mo plan, or make you want to avoid a G1 data plan at all?
I wonder if there is an intentional marketing-smoke-screen strategy here by some overzealous marketing manager…
well to tell you the truth, between this ‘could-be-suspicious’ marketing tactic and the poor experience i had with the CS rep who didnt seem to know what she was talking about, it made me want to avoid tmobile all together; not good first impressions.
so have we come to any 100% definite conclusion here?
Marc,
Todd if you are primarily on Google’s services, it looks like Gmail and Gtalk are free, they won’t eat into your count. I haven’t gotten confirmation yet on non-Gmail email and from the research we’ve done so far, it looks like non-Gtalk IM services are implemented with text messages (wth?) so those will eat into the count.
I’d expect T-Mobile to get a clarification out in the next week after this mass-confusion online about this.
As far as T-Mobile, for what it’s worth (keep in mind everyone always has their own story) I’ve always enjoyed shenanigans-free service with them for the last 5 or 6 years that I’ve been with them.
But as with anything I’d encourage you to stick with whatever carrier you are either happy with or research supports; that’s just 1 data point and may not reflect your own experience. (Incase you can’t tell, I’m not enamored with any big service companies…)